A few weeks ago, two different articles circulated among different interest groups in my social media. The first, in nonprofit management circles, was Dan Palotta’s TED Talk “The Way We Think About Charity Is Dead Wrong.” The second, in legal aid circles, a piece in the New York Times about the sad state of our nation’s poor when facing civil legal problems, “Right to Lawyer Can Be Empty Promise for Poor.” As a career-long nonprofit professional, and the last ten years of which spent in legal aid policy, these two items begged to be considered together.
Palotta’s talk threw me for a loop. Continue reading “What cost, humanity?”